PHOENIX – It wasn’t only the last Ranger regime that constantly toyed with the concept of trading Petr Nedved for a different specimen of a forward. Neil Smith was always on the lookout for a tougher player, and so, truth be told, was Glen Sather.

Which only goes to prove that people don’t always recognize what they have right there in front of them.

No, Nedved is not a prototypical power center; no, Nedved is not an elite first-line center; and, yes, Nedved at times can lapse into a maddening perimeter game.

But since his 1998 return to New York, Nedved has been the team’s most dependable center, quite capable of carrying his team for two and three weeks at a time. And now, with Eric Lindros’ status clouded, with Mark Messier’s body bowing to the reality of a Jan. 18, 1961 birth date, Nedved is not only an essential Ranger center, but an essential Ranger.

Trading him is unthinkable.

With Lindros and Messier – each, ironically, a one-time serious Nedved antagonist – ailing to one degree or another the last three weeks, No. 93 has taken the torch and carried it high. Coming into tonight’s 2001 finale here against the Coyotes, he has scored four goals in his last six games, seven in his last 12. Beyond that, he has played with the same type of tenacity and resolve that have marked this 22-14-3-2 Ranger season.

“Petr’s overall game has been super,” Low said after Saturday’s 5-4 win in L.A. “We know about his wrist shot – definitely one of the best two or three in the league – but what I like about his game is that this is the most physical I’ve ever seen him play.

“He’s really been tough away from the puck. This has been his best hockey.”

Nedved, 30 earlier this month, 11 years in the league, one completely lost because of a contract impasse with the Penguins, another almost nearly lost because of a similar stalemate with the Canucks, defector from then communist Czechoslovakia at the age of 18 – not tough? – agrees with his coach’s assessment.

“There’s no question at all that in order to succeed in this league now, and especially in the East, you have to be able to grind it out and be responsible at both ends of the ice.”

There is, as well, something more to Nedved’s embrace of a more traditional North American style. As are all his teammates who have had too many extended summer vacations – he is third among the team in seniority, behind only Bluebloods Brian Leetch and Mike Richter – he is sick of it.

“The last few years have been very tough here, no fun at all,” he said. “Now, this is maybe the most fun first half I’ve ever had. The bottom line is to make the playoffs, however it has to be done, and then go from there.

“And the style I’m playing, the physical style we’re playing as a team, that’s only going to help us when we do get in, because that’s the way it’s played in the playoffs.